"Without volunteers there is no vaccine. I would repeat"

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• LAURA G. IBAÑÉS

  Madrid

Thursday, 10 September 2020 - 15:58

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This native of Barcelona has been living in the United Kingdom for more than two decades now.

He works as a nurse at Sheffield University Hospital, and from there

has been suddenly caught up in a whirlwind of television cameras and headlines.

With three children and already a certain English accent, three months ago he became

, the great promise of more than a hundred in research and in which the Spanish Government trusted to be able to start immunizing to the population from December.

The decision yesterday Tuesday to temporarily paralyze the clinical trials of this vaccine after having detected "an inexplicable disease" [which in the end turned out to be transverse myelitis] in one of the volunteers has once again brought his name to the headlines.

But he

instead of fear and fear: "I would do it again because without volunteers there will be no vaccine."

Why did you decide to volunteer to test the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine? I am a nurse, part of the management team at Sheffield Hospital and have worked in the ICU.

From there I have seen what the coronavirus does in the body and I have come to the conclusion that the only way to defeat it is with a vaccine.

And to have a vaccine, you need volunteers to test it, which does not prevent the fear of adverse effects from arising, of the unknown that everything implies.

You never had it? They gave us a very long document with possible effects that started with a headache and worked its way up to anaphylactic shock and death.

But the truth is that I was not afraid.

All that battery of sequelae or effects are common in any trial and it gave me confidence that even the person in charge of this investigation has vaccinated their own children and no mother would do that if they think it would be unsafe for them.

But now trials have come to a halt after failing to explain the illness of one of the participants.

Has this led to a change of mind? I would vaccinate again because without volunteers there will never be a vaccine.

And it must be clear that what is to be feared is the coronavirus, not the vaccine.

What has happened is common in a trial, it is not yet known if it is due to the vaccine.

In addition, it must be taken into account that it has occurred in a single person out of 50,000 in whom it has been tested.

I think security is being maximum.

In addition, it is not the first time that the trials of this vaccine have been paralyzed and those of the alternative of the US laboratory, Moderna, were also paralyzed.

It is part of how you are investigated. Following this incident, AstraZeneca has contacted you.

What indications has the company given you after the temporary suspension of the trials? At the moment they have not communicated anything to us, I continue with my appointment scheduled for next week.

Now I am in the follow-up phase.

There is a whole protocol established for any symptoms that may arise and it is being fulfilled without unforeseen events of any kind.The pressure for the vaccine to go ahead as soon as possible is enormous: governments, patients, society ... What is your opinion to the respect? is it.

But I think that precisely the fact that they have decided to paralyze the trials in the face of this one case that is not even known if it is due to the vaccine means that they are putting safety before any political race to launch an immunization solution soon.

I think we should call for calm because what happened is simply normal.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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